User talk:Bobby Stein

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User talk goes here, methinks.

Contents 1 Favorites 2 Cuts? 3 Text issues in the game 4 Tihark Orchard 5 BSG 6 Jora's Quotes 7 Text issues 8 PodCast 9 BMP Feedback 10 Loved Gwen's story 11 Education questions^^ 12 Text issues 13 Localized text bugs 14 weapon names 15 ArenaNet namespace 16 GTA IV is beast :D 17 Planescape: Torment... 18 Panel Podcast? 19 Panel Highlights

[edit] Favorites

Hi there! Caught you off of Emily's page, and I have a few questions for you if you don't mind. What has been your favorite character to create and/or dialogue? What is your favorite piece of flavor text you have added to the game? Did you add any fluff that really added to the background of the game, and if so what is your favorite bit (e.g., "I thought up the slave stones that the SS use on the Dredge.")? --Ravious 04:35, 15 August 2007 (UTC)

Hi yourself! Guild Wars is an ever-evolving collaborative creation, so to take sole credit for any one idea, character, or short story within its universe would be a disservice to all the other folk involved. The writing team works closely with designers on every quest, mission, and scene. Sometimes the basic dialogue is largely unchanged from original concept, while at other times it undergoes a series of revisions, rewrites, and polish passes. That stated, from time to time we're allowed to put on our thinking caps and let loose. My personal favorites are: The Bog Beast of Bokku, Tihark Orchard, and Just My Luck. Those first two I worked on with designer Colin Johanson since we share the same silly sense of humor. I think we were both happy to try something a little less serious. And if it weren't for programmer John Corpening, Tihark Orchard wouldn't have had half the unique gameplay features that made it into the final version. Just My Luck was something I worked on for the 2007 Canthan New Year Festival. I'm a better story teller than gameplay designer, so you can thank John Stumme for making that tragicomedy a functional reality. Background, lore, and all things grandiose are handled by the likes of Jeff Grubb, Ree Soesbee, and my former boss Jess Lebow (now at Flying Lab). All three of them are stellar writers that I'm proud to have worked with. With GW: EN just around the corner, I'm having a hard time containing my excitement. I'm proudest of our work on it. Without spoiling any surprises, let's just say we pulled out all the stops. ;) See you online. --Bobby Stein 22:18, 16 August 2007 (UTC)

I'll be honest. I did not like the gameplay of Just My Luck, it was a tedious UPS quest, however, I really liked the story to it, and I am pretty sure I laughed at the end. Tihark Orchard is also a lot of fun. The mime gets frustrating but the drinking contest is hilarious. I love that you steal drinks from the nobles to play a fraternity-like drinking game. I am interested in your thoughts about GW:EN after it is released. --Ravious 15:33, 16 August 2007 (UTC)

I hear ya. To be honest, I intended Just My Luck to be somewhat of a fetch quest since the quest giver, Guwon the Wise, is something of a hack. She sends the player on a wild goose chase for her morning tea, only to promise Hapless Chong salvation from his bad fortune (and we all know how that ended). But I can sympathize that it might have peeved a few people off in the process. It's comedy at the expense of the player as much as the quest giver--not something that's worth slipping in more than once, for sure. Glad you enjoyed the writing, though. It's great to hear constructive feedback. I'll definitely be up for discussing GW: EN content after it ships later this month. We put a lot of care into the dialogue and quests and I hope that comes through. Take care. --Bobby Stein 22:18, 16 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Cuts?

Hello! I don't know if you may answer this, but has there anything been cut from the game (say, thanks to a matter of not having enough time to fully implement it, or something changing making something else to be unnecessary or contradictory, and so on)? Do you think you could talk a bit about those things? For example, Linsey (I think it was her, although I'm not sure) mentioned how she had written more about the Bleached Bones we find in Elona, but in the end it was not possible to add all of it to the game. Did anything like that happen to something you worked on? Erasculio 21:59, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

I think I speak on behalf of the entire industry when I say that game design, much like photography and film, is a subtractive art (take that, Roger Ebert!). I've never heard of any game that didn't ship without some ideas or concepts left on the cutting room floor. As a writer I've learned to become unattached to anything that I draft, simply because it will invariably undergo revisions, edits, and possibly get ripped from the game. Sometimes I forget we're a T-rated game and I get carried away with suggestive language or themes, and either Jeff Grubb or James Phinney has to come over and bop me on the head to remind me. But not everything that gets omitted from the final release is due to risqué wording. Sometimes there just isn't enough time to get things scripted, coded, and adequately tested, no matter how badly we want them in. I wrote a bunch of dialogue for the ghost of Hapless Chong for GW: EN. I wanted him to make a random appearance in a certain EA and mutter some lines about his death, observations of the afterlife, and musings on what it's like to "see people naked in their beds." Needless to say, that got cut, among other things. I'll refrain from printing any seamy dialogue on the wiki, but you know those snarky accept and decline boxes at the end of every quest description? Let's just say some of our best ones never make it outside the building. ;) Thanks for the question. Bobby Stein 04:46, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Ah, now you made me curious about the accept and decline texts, I love the ones we currently have : D Thanks for the reply! Erasculio 21:09, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Text issues in the game

Hi and welcome to the wiki. :) I noticed that one of the writing team members had arrived at the wiki so I decided to ask a question.

Gaile has put up a page for reporting text issues on the wiki here. As she now has to send that list to your team, wouldn't it be easier if the page would be moved under one of the writing team members user name spaces and you guys could directly check on it? This would also make it possible for you guys to archive all the stuff that you have fixed and implemented in the game or tell us if you wont change it for some reason, so that we don't need to check every single text issue again in the game and wonder if some of them will be fixed or not. If both the writing team and Gaile agree we can easily do the move and you could put a link to the page on your user and talk pages. -- (gem / talk) 18:56, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Sounds like a fine idea. I'll bring it up to Gaile on Monday. Thanks for the suggestion. If you don't hear anything from me in a week, feel free to drop a reminder. As an aside, Gaile has been sending us some user-discovered text bugs and we've been fixing them fairly quickly (usually within a day, though they don't make it to the live server until the next update). Localization takes some time but anything we fix in American English usually carries over to the other languages shortly thereafter. Thanks for dropping by. :) Bobby Stein 22:13, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Great, thanks! The lists Gaile has been sending to you were gathered from the page that I linked to. Would it be possible for you to spend a little time going through all of those which have been marked with a green tick and then move all of those entried to the arhive that your team has fixed. That would help to clear the page quite a lot. I understand if you do not have the time to do it so don't take a problem about it at all. :) -- (gem / talk) 22:25, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

I created a page for text bugs and believe that Gaile Gray will be placing a link from the old page to the new one. Feel free to hit me up with any questions. Again, I'm somewhat of a wiki newbie, so it may take me awhile to get up to speed with formatting, archiving, and things of that nature. I thank you in advance for your patience. :) Bobby Stein 01:01, 13 October 2007 (UTC)

Should we just move the old stuff from Gailes user name space to your new page? Or do you want a fresh start? -- (gem / talk) 01:22, 13 October 2007 (UTC)

I think we've already fixed a lot of those bugs, but I'm not sure if that's reflected in the list. If it's possible to "close those out" in a manner of speaking and only move over the open items, that would be great. If not, bring 'em all to the new page and I'll comb through them when I have some free time. We're in the middle of Bonus Mission Pack and Guild Wars 2 development, so please don't get offended if it takes a little longer to update than usual. ;) Bobby Stein 01:30, 13 October 2007 (UTC)

I've been moving all of the items that I've been able to confirm to the archive of the original page. It's a tedious task to check all of them so it owuld be great if you could check the page and cut-paste all resovled issues to the archive page. The rest can then be moved to the new page. No hurry with it though, we are all busy with hard mode. ;) -- (gem / talk) 01:33, 13 October 2007 (UTC)

Sure thing, boss. ;) I've been pretty busy the last couple of days fixing what I can and escalating what I can't. I'll clean up these pages and archive the necessary entries once the Bonus Mission Pack is out the door. So very close.... Bobby Stein 08:50, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Tihark Orchard

Caught this page off of Recent changes. I am a guilty Recent Change lurker.

Anyway, You worked on/created Tihark Orchard? I must say kudos. Nightfall was already one of my favorite campaigns but that mission is so fun, it's the exact one I strive to throw every character I have into if and when possible. Hard mode may not be different but it's fun to get the extra rewards. But yeah, I must say damn good job on a fine mission. There's not many good ones in the game :( Vanguard 01:06, 13 October 2007 (UTC)

Hi, Vanguard. I'm one of those lurkers, too. :) Tihark Orchard was the work of a lot of people, actually. Jeff Grubb was the overall story architect for Nightfall, so the cinematic dialogue and setting for this mission came from him, I believe. Designer Colin Johanson came up with the non-linear/adventure game mechanics along with programmer John Corpening if I recall correctly. My job was to edit/rewrite/tweak all NPC dialogue here with Colin, so I helped with everything from the band chatter to the party commentary and sub-quest text. We went with a lighthearted tone for the most part, and used liberal pop culture references and humor where we thought appropriate. I really like how this mission turned out because it's markedly different than others in the game. There is less emphasis on combat and more on minigames and conversation. In a way it's more like a single player RPG in that you have the freedom to do things in the order you want (or you can skip some events altogether) and there are multiple outcomes for each sub-quest. On a professional level, I try to insert humor wherever I can, so Tihark Orchard was a blast to work on. Thanks for playing our game, and also for posting your feedback here. It means a lot to folks like us. Bobby Stein 01:24, 13 October 2007 (UTC)

Yes, it is by far one of the BEST missions in the entire campaign compilation. Make sure to pass that on ^_^ I'll have to go through it again and find all the references, I didn't pay too much attention to all the political chatter. I wanted to get to some of the fun stuff.
Part of me thinks the bonus minigames were entirely too easy, but I guess that was done on purpose, as a bit of the cooldown from the more annoying NF missions like Moddok Crevice and others. And that mime minigame. Ugh, it always takes me like twenty tries. That guy plays the guitar and violin the same way or something. Anyway, Keep doing that VooDoo that YouDo. Vanguard 01:36, 13 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] BSG

You a Battlestar Galactica fan? I'm getting a major Cylon vibe off the model for Bobby the Costume Brawl NPC, who we assume to be named after you. It's funny, "Blobby" and everyone can't get a hint being beaten over our collective heads, but take off that L and suddenly everyone's right on it. - Tanetris 20:07, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

Hey Tanetris. I'm actually old enough to remember the original Battlestar Galactica from the late 1970s, cheesy sfx and all. I do like the new version quite a bit but haven't been keeping up with the episodes, so you can consider me a casual fan. What's funny is that I didn't name the Costume Brawl NPC. Assumedly, one of the designers did. I'm not sure, really. But I am grateful that they made me pretty buff. I guess my ghostly form gets the chicks in the afterlife. ;) Bobby Stein 23:33, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Jora's Quotes

Jora's quotes are really, really great. Some are almost frightening in how they portray someone who not only welcomes a fight, but also revels in it; her quote about the "age of the Norn" is priceless, for example. I have no idea who wrote them, but whoever it was did an excelent job - we can feel her personality and her strenght very clearly from those quotes. Erasculio 01:28, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

We divvied up all of the Hero chatter text between the members of the writing team and the embedded writer/desigers, so it's hard to remember who wrote what at this point. We go through multiple rounds of revisions, so a text string might originate with one particular writer or designer and then change a few times over the course of development. I'll be sure to relay your compliments to the team. Thanks for the feedback. Bobby Stein 21:26, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Text issues

I hope you haven't forgotten User talk:Bobby Stein/Text bugs. -- (gem / talk) 15:36, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

Hi Gem. Nope, I haven't forgotten about them. In fact, I just had a conversation with the QA Manager on Friday about how to proceed with the remaining items. I've been really busy with the upcoming Bonus Mission Pack and GW2 stories, but should have the bandwidth to deal with the open bugs by next week. Thanks for your patience. :) Bobby Stein 17:14, 12 November 2007 (UTC)

Hehe, I'm glad to hear that. No hurry, I just wanted to make sure that it doesn't get buried under the heaps of stuff that must be going on there. -- (gem / talk) 22:52, 12 November 2007 (UTC)

I updated the status of about 20 bugs this afternoon. I should have more time next week to chip away at what's left. Bobby Stein 23:21, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

I noticed already, thanks! Can you move the issues to an archive page after the fixes have gone live so I know when to update the corresponding articles? -- (gem / talk) 23:47, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

The archive page is up. All items there are either fixed or slated to be fixed with an upcoming build. Bobby Stein 23:07, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

Great! Thanks. -- (gem / talk) 08:07, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

Oh, if you have the time sometime could you also look through the old text issue page and archive the fixed issues there too. :) -- (gem / talk) 08:17, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

Updated and fixed pretty much everything on that page. Cleaned a bunch of bugs off my plate today. *phew* Bobby Stein 23:04, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] PodCast

Any plans to provide a transcript for that Podcast you mentioned? GW players who are also deaf will appreciate it. Barinthus 23:06, 18 November 2007 (UTC)

Hi Barinthus. I touched base with the Marketing folks regarding the PAX panel podcasts. As you may have noticed, the official PAX website hasn't been updated in quite some time. If the podcasts make it to the web (that is, if they haven't been deleted, lost, or otherwise rendered unplayable) I'll see about getting them transcribed. I can't promise anything in terms of a deadline (there's a lot going on behind the scenes right now) but want to make sure anyone who'd like to enjoy them can do so. Thanks for playing. Bobby Stein 02:06, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

Much appreciated :) I understand that transcribing can be a time-consuming and uses up resources so a summary instead would be great if powers that be doesnt feel they want to down the transcribing route. Anyway either way, appreciate the thought. Barinthus 06:55, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

I've been informed by our marketing team that the podcasts are unavailable for posting and transcribing. Unfortunately, I don't have any more details to share. If there is public demand for similar content on our site (articles and/or videos about "Breaking In" or "Working at ArenaNet") please post a note here, on Gaile's page, or in a public forum and I'll pass it along to our content folks. Sorry to be the bringer of bad news. Bobby Stein 03:12, 1 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] BMP Feedback

I hope your reading Gaile's talk page the the bottom of the Bonus Mission Pack talk page. A lot of praise for you and the BMP team is going on there, great work guys! Most polished GW product ever! Anon

Glad to see that people are enjoying it! Bobby Stein 04:41, 1 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Loved Gwen's story

Gwen's story was great. Jack 02:03, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the feedback! Gwen was the first mission that I've written, and as such, it gave me a lot of opportunities that I normally don't have with quests. I really wanted to make something that would convey what it would feel like to be Gwen - a character that is, for all intents and purposes, starting off helpless. She can't fight back against the Charr, and as she goes along, she is exposed to more and more of their atrocities... (the arena, the corpses, the story of the ghosts, etc.) all the while, slowly building up the resolve to do something about it. I think that sets her mission apart in Guild Wars - it isn't a grandiouse tale of a hero, it's the story of why she wants to become one, and why she is the person she is in EoTN.

I think Gwen is a point of fondness for many of us, and the Writing team played a big part in getting the feel right, especially the events within the catacombs. That started with me saying "I have an idea for some ghosts..." which became a big session of "We could do this," "and/or this!" with Bobby, Will, Brian, and Sean. What you see in-game is the result of that, and vastly different from the original design - which required Gwen to fight off the ghost of an ancient Charr warlord by using a giant statue of Lyssa brought to life by slime that reacted to people's emotions. Actually I'm just confusing that with Ghostbusters 2 for some reason, but the point remains! John Stumme 05:00, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

I agree, that mission was great. What amazes me the most (as has always been the case with GW) is the attention to details in the game. Gwen's animation when crouching is, as far as I'm concerned, something new - I don't remember seeing that before. The mechanics of being able to break aggro and pretend to be dead is really fitting both with Gwen (deceive and stealth were the only possible weapons of someone in that situation) and with her chosen profession of a mesmer. The description of the spells in the old books was really, really cool - we almost never hear the characters talking about magic and how it works in the game, so having in-game lore about how some skills work was a nice surprise (and those descriptions were really well written). I really like the idea of being able to learn new skills by finding them - that gives a nice feeling of the game being a RPG (it somewhat reminds me, for example, of Final Fantasy 2, when we have to go past a very long dungeon in order to find one of the most powerful spells in the game). Having enemies that do not attack us despite we being within aggro range (such as the Charr ghosts following the Ascalon ones) is a novelty, and it really changes the "protect NPC X" routine. Lastly, the cinematics in the mission were great - not only the animation in the last one had the characters interacting with each other in a way I didn't think was possible under the GW engine, but also the first cinematic has a very "gorey" that reminds me of a bug being squashed. Very nice work. Erasculio 13:38, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

Hey, who let Stumme in here? :) John isn't kidding when he mentions all of the tweaks and rewrites that went into this mission. The original version had Gwen chucking rocks the size of Abaddon's fist at the Siege Devourer and fighting monsters throughout the cave network. I like the fact that he took the mission in a different direction. Now it plays more like a traditional single-player RPG or *gasp* adventure game! It was definitely a challenge to get everything right, from the motivation of the ghosts to the balancing of the PvE skills in solving puzzles (my favorite is the one where you have to slow down the Charr pursuers). Our story pow-wow was pretty intense. We spent awhile tossing ideas around and figuring out how we could justify why the ghosts were trapped there, how the skills would factor in solving the puzzles, and what sort of mood should be conveyed to the player. I agree with Erasculio in that the lore descriptions that trigger when Gwen finds those skills really fleshed out the story. John wrote the original versions and Will then tweaked them for length and clarity. The BMP missions were a true collaborative effort from start to finish, and I think it shows. Everything from the gameplay to the cinematics and story show a level of polish we're really proud of. We took some chances trying new things, for better or worse. Stealth missions, classic RPG problem solving, and even some old school adventure game nods found their way in. The feedback we've received has been amazing. Thanks for your comments. Bobby Stein 16:02, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of all the quests in the BMP. Not that I expected them to be bad or anything, but they were all among your best work. I especially liked the attention to detail. But I guess most people will miss ironies such as the Devourer egg eater being killed by a siege devourer. Backsword 07:10, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Education questions^^

Hey Bobby, my dream job is to work as a programer for a game (MMO, Shooter, FPS, or work with Rockstar on GTA^^). I'm wondering if you'd feel free to share exactly you studied in highschool in college. I know that you orignally wanted to be a movie producer (or something similar, degree in filiming). What Math and Science classes did you take in HS and College [from what i've heard programmersz have to be extremely good with math and calculating physics and such] (Calculus, Physics, Computer Science, etc...) Did you need to know any programming languages when you started looking at game industries to work for (Java, C, C++, etc...)

And anything else you would feel free to share^^. *By the way, I still have a little while before I start applying to be a game programmer, currently 15 in tenth grade... lol.*

Oh, and thanks beforehand if you can answer this:D--'ÑöẊĭƑý 20:22, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

Not trying to answer for Bobby, but one thing that would definitely help is to start practicing programming immediately. I don't think the language matters, but java and c are the most common ones to begin with. You'll get a good grasp with internet tutorials, but getting someone to help who has some basic knowldge does help. -- (gem / talk) 23:19, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

Hi there. Writers (and to a lesser extent, designers) aren't usually required to know any programming languages, but it's always good to know a bit of rudimentary scripting or coding to understand how things work together. I took a few beginner programming courses in college but didn't go for a computer science degree (I have a BA in visual art, yet I can't draw a straight line without the aid of a ruler...go figure). After my stint in television, I worked for a few different Wall St. equity firms and learned much about client/server architecture, databases, and Unix shell scripting. Even though I don't use much of that knowledge on a daily basis here at ArenaNet, having a mild technical background has helped me. If programming is your forte, my guess is that a computer science degree is what you're looking for. I'm not the best person to ask regarding schooling for game programming, but do know that C++ is a must. Check out some of the programming job listings on the ArenaNet company site for more details on what's expected of you. My other advice is to frequent professional industry sites like Gamasutra and soak up all the knowledge you can. Find a good mod team, get familiar with game engines, and have fun working on your own projects. When it comes time to look for colleges, weigh your options carefully. Some schools like DigiPen are devoted to training the next generation of game developers, whereas a decent college or university might offer plenty of courses (or degree programs) related to game development. If there's enough community interest, perhaps I can ask some ANet programmers for more insight. I hope this gives you a good starting point. Thanks for stopping by. Bobby Stein 23:21, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Text issues

There are some skills where we don't know if it is the decription or functionality is right. An example would be skills that were correctly saying they affect arrows, until Nightfall came out and they were found to also affect thrown spears, without the decription being updated. How would you like us to handle those? Backsword 07:22, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

Hi Backsword. It really depends on the situation, what's wrong or inaccurate about the skill wording, and if there has been a balance update that has affected the skill in question. Anything I can immediately identify as a text bug I can usually fix right away. Everything else is forwarded to the gameplay designers or QA to investigate. As an aside, I wanted to let everyone know that, while I look at the submitted bugs quite frequently, I need to take a break fixing things since we're in the process of reorganizing our department. I recently took over the team (and we're down two bodies) so other tasks are taking priority. Once the dust settles I'll be actively handling new bugs (or assigning them to various members of the group). Thanks for your patience. Bobby Stein 23:01, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

As you might have noticed, I recently added quite a lot of text issues to the page. I did this by going through all articles in Category:Bugs and Category:Anomalies and making an entry for every bug and anomaly that was most likely a text issue. Anything that was most likely a game mechanic issue was left out. By fixing all of the text issues those categories will get emptied quite a lot and the designers can actually use the categories to track real bugs that should be fixed. No hurry ofcourse, most of those have been around for quite a long while and they don't seem to bother people too much. -- (gem / talk) 23:09, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

And congrats on your new position. :) -- (gem / talk) 23:10, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

Thank you kindly. :) And by the way, I really appreciate the fact that the community is actively helping us in this process. You guys and gals rock. Bobby Stein 23:28, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

With the help of QA, the bulk of current bugs has been logged internally and distributed among the members of the writing team. Most items should be easy to fix, though bear in mind it sometimes takes upwards of a few weeks for something to be localized in all languages, integrated into a live build, and viewable in the game. Thanks for your help and patience. Bobby Stein 22:00, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

No problem and thanks for taking the time to fix the game for us who still need to wait a year or two for the next game. ;) -- (gem / talk) 22:03, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Heh. Well, we'd better fix 'em now because dev is really ramping up. Gotta clean these off the plate before we're too swamped. ;) Bobby Stein 22:07, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Localized text bugs

Since there is now a section dedicated to localized versions text bugs at User:Jason Yu's page, may i suggest adding a link to the text bugs section? Would be easier than moving the topics when they are raised i guess.--Fighterdoken 22:09, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the update. You emailed me before the localization folks. I'll have to give them grief for that. ;) Bobby Stein 22:15, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] weapon names

White Scythe and Dragon Scythes could probably be changed to less misleading names. Maybe White Sickle and Dragon Sickles? Just a thought. --Life Infusion «T» 00:28, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Good point. I forwarded this to our items designer. I'll let you know how it goes. Bobby Stein 04:12, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Nice. Thanks for the quick response. --Life Infusion «T» 05:08, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Not a problem. John Hargrove will be renaming those weapons in the next few days. They won't reflect on the live server until the next build update following those edits, but you should see them online in a couple of weeks. Bobby Stein 19:00, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

That's great. It will help newer players not get confused about the weapon types. --Life Infusion «T» 03:03, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

white reaver + dragon kamas :)--Life Infusion «T» 01:40, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

I'll pass this along to John. He gets the credit for this one. :) Bobby Stein 20:10, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] ArenaNet namespace

As we now have an ArenaNet namespace, we are trying to figure out what kind of information that would fit there, and we would love some input from ArenaNet people. If you have an idea, please share it :) The bug report section in your user space has been suggested to be moved to this ArenaNet namespace, so we would really like to have your opinion on this. If you want it moved, or if it should stay. And if moved, who should "take care" of it and how should it be handled. Community dicsussion is mostly centralized on ArenaNet talk:Portal, but feel free to respond here too :) - anja 13:06, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

It sounds like a great idea. I have no problem migrating the text bugs to a more centralized location on the wiki. Is this more for administrative functions, or do you also plan to link to ANet staff user pages from there, too? Bobby Stein 20:38, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

I think our goal is to make it a first stop for users who want to come in contact with the more Arenanet related parts of wiki, be it bug reports, suggestions, news or staff. So links to Anet staff user pages would also be a good idea. - anja 20:57, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] GTA IV is beast :D

Im rank 7 now. Its a sexy online game tbh. I wish g dubz had carz to steal and blood... yes, much blood in PvP ;). If you get hit with a meteor shower, there should be guts everywhere and people on vent should be screaming HOLY $%^& WTF!!!--24.195.135.159 15:22, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

You just made my day. Bobby Stein 23:40, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Planescape: Torment...

...Is teh awesome!!111 It's one of my three favourite games, thanks mostly to the wonderful writing (although the soundtrack is also great). It amazes me how many details and how many subtleties that game has (incentally, there's a Factions quest that for some reason reminds me of that kind of writing, Messages, Messages Everywhere). Erasculio 23:52, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

I agree. I'm finding that it holds up quite well after all these years. It's my first time playing so it's a brand-new experience. I'd just gotten back into PC gaming when the game was released and was mostly playing the likes of Unreal Tournament, Half-Life, and the original Day of Defeat mod. I didn't really get into RPGs until Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic on Xbox. That hooked me on the genre and I've been going back in time trying to play the classic Western RPGs the past few years. Well, that's not entirely true. I played a share of titles on the Commodore 64 when I was a kid (some Forgotten Realms games, Bard's Tale, and a few others I can't quite remember). Any others you'd recommend? Bobby Stein 04:54, 24 July 2008 (UTC)

PS:T is a perfect example of how the story can make the game. That'd also be why it holds up over time. Actual gameplay is rather poor. Not terrible, but below par. But people tend to forget that, from their love for the story. Backsword 08:11, 24 July 2008 (UTC)

I have to admit that the combat so far in Planescape doesn't do much for me, but the setting, story, dialogue, and art style certainly make up for it. For me, the appeal of that game along with Fallout is the overall vibe. The first time I tried playing Fallout I was thrown for a loop with the whole action points mechanic. I was never into pen and paper RPGs as a kid so the whole thing was sort of lost on me. When I wrote the strategy guides for Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Advance Wars: Dual Strike I had to get used to turn-based combat, which I've never really enjoyed that much. I don't mind it, but prefer the faster pace of action RPGs and first person shooters. Bobby Stein 16:59, 26 July 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Panel Podcast?

If you know of a recording of your panel, I would love to hear it. Danke! --Ravious 17:05, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

There was a video camera in the back of the room, so assumedly the GCDC folks taped it. If it becomes available for download I'll let you know. I think it went pretty well, but we'll have to wait and see if anyone posts their reviews online to know for sure. :) Bobby Stein 22:02, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

Great! Thanks. Looking forward to it. --Ravious 12:21, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

I talked to the guys at Ten Ton Hammer. They said they have it, I think on video, and it will be up later this week, hopefully. --Ravious 18:40, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

I met the TTH guys at the Frankfurt airport. Really, really nice. I wanted to toss back a few cold ones with them but was tied up for the few days I was at Leipzig. My hotel was in the middle of nowhere (Merseburg) so it was difficult and expensive to get out. Looking forward to the video. Bobby Stein 21:58, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

Well looks like TTH decided not to upload it. That sucks. I love listening to panels, especially when ANet employees are involved. --Ravious 16:50, 8 September 2008 (UTC)

My assumption is that if their readers really want it, they'll post it. Let 'em know you're out there and see what happens. ;) Bobby Stein 17:24, 8 September 2008 (UTC)

I nudged my contact, he said that the audio gave out midway through, and it wasn't a good video anyway due to how they set up and how the place was packed. Anyway, if you ever get the free time (ha ha ha) to want to let your adoring fans know some cool stuff you said, I'd at least love to hear it. --Ravious 19:29, 8 September 2008 (UTC)

Gotcha. Yeah, the place was quite crowded (standing room only by the time we kicked off). There were definitely a few moments worth talking about. I'll put together a list of highlights and touch base with the other panelists to make sure I get the facts straight. Thanks for your interest. Bobby Stein 19:49, 8 September 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Panel Highlights

I realize this is a bit late, but in case anyone is interested in reading some of what we discussed at the Leipzig panel I've posted a few notes here.

• The session opened with moderator Stephane Bura introducing each of the panelists. He displayed some box art and book covers from a sampling of our published works, complete with embarrassing pictures.
• Our first topic covered metagames and how they enhance, complicate, or otherwise affect modern games.
• We took a quick turn into Guild Wars country and I described to the audience our title system, which was released to the public after the launch of the original game due to player feedback. While many players were enjoying PvP, a much larger vocal community of PvE players asked us for more post-game content.
• We implemented titles as a way to encourage players to approach the game differently, such as by exploring every section of every map and capturing every available skill.
• Part of our thinking was that if players wanted to "see and do more" they could use the titles as inspiration, but they were not required to do so to beat the game.
• This worked fine until the "great Ursan conflict," which tied a skill's PvE effectiveness to title level in such a manner that it fragmented the community. Some high-ranking players shunned others with lower ranks. We listened to all kinds of feedback and then responded with an update that we thought best served our community of players.
• I talked a bit about Shing Jea Sherman and how Colin Johanson, John Corpening, and myself put him together as a little recognition tool for players. Many folks like to be applauded for their efforts, so having an NPC broadcast one of your accomplishments was us dipping our toes into a much larger pool.
• Fellow panelists discussed their thoughts on similar mechanics. They felt that modern games were notably easier than games made 10 or 20 years ago, for better or worse.
• We all discussed some effective writing approaches to character creation in narratives.
• The panel went a little over schedule, but he had a few minutes to answer some questions. We started discussing our preferences in handling cinematics as a narrative device, and then the panel concluded.

I met a lot of cool people at Leipzig, many of whom were students preparing for careers in game development. Each day I tried to attend a least a couple of presentations and take notes. There are a lot of smart, creative people out there from all over the world. It helps to listen to your peers. Bobby Stein 05:55, 2 October 2008 (UTC)

Nice, thanks for sharing your notes. We still have very little information from the gaming conventions, so knowing the kind of thing that was said is rather interesting. Also, funny to see Arena Net's point of view about the "great Ursan conflict" : D Erasculio 12:21, 2 October 2008 (UTC)

Cool. Thanks for taking the time to put that up. I too really like Shing Jea Sherman. I know LOTRO (and undoubtedly other MMOs) have something similar where they will note player accomplishments as you walk by. Noteably in LOTRO, if you complete quests for some quest giver and run by they will thank you for the quest or give you a 10 word update. It's just a neat little thing, and I am glad you guys put it in. Peace. --Ravious 17:43, 6 October 2008 (UTC)

I wanna go back!